Spider Byte

Never kill a spider in the afternoon or evening, but always kill the spider unlucky enough to show himself early in the morning, for the old French proverb says:

Araignee du matin--chagrin;

Araignee du midi--plaisir;

Araignee du soir--espior

(A spider seen in the morning is a sign of grief; a spider seen at noon, of joy; a spider seen in the evening, of hope.)

An old proverb cited in A Spider on the Stairs by Cassandra Chan (a full review is up on Bookwyrme's Lair)

The World of The Spider by Adrienne Mason

The World of the spider is a large book with plenty of space for photographs, and there are some lovely photographs, and Mason's text is brisk, informative, and to the point.

And... having said that, I'm stuck for anything else to say, even shortly after finishing it. It's a nice, informative book, but there's little to make it stand out one way or the other in a world full of nice, informative books.  It's got good photographs, but not the stunningly memorable ones found in, say, Nic Bishop's Spiders.  Flipping through it now, only Dwight Kuhn's picture of a jumping spider in mid-jump makes me pause for a second look.

So. there you have it: An unmemorable review of an unmemorable book. I'm not sorry I checked it out of the library, I'm also not sorry to return it.

The Spider by John Crompton, a book review

I almost didn't read The Spider. I'm in a hurry to learn as much as possible as fast as possible and The Spider, written in 1950, struck me as too dated. However, David Quammen had the wisdom to include some selections from the text in his introduction, and that lured me into starting. Crompton's opening paragraph hooked me, and I devoured the rest of the book. I'm glad I did. I would hate to have missed Crompton's prose and his easy, good-natured approach to spiders and people alike.

Actually, I suspect he rates the intelligence of spiders at a slightly higher level than that of most of his fellow humans, but he does so so charmingly that one can't hold it against him, and anyway, it is only the faintest of suspicions. On the whole, he seems to regard everyone, spiders and humans alike, as a group of charming, eccentric neighbors.

I read bits of the book out loud to whoever happened to be around at the time, and I look forward to reading more of Crompton's books and reading bits of them out loud as well.

I can't read out loud to you (probably to your relief), but I will close by giving the opening paragraph to the Preface, the one that hooked me:

Coming out of the theatre one may expect to hear some member of the audience remark to the other that the play, though very good, was quite impossible; that such things could never happen in real life. It always seems to me that the lives of certain insects are more like plays than reality. And very good plays a lot of them are, particularly those staged by the bees, ants, and wasps. But of all the plays now running, I am inclined to think that the one produced by spiders is the best. It has almost everything the modern audience wants; love interest, suspense, psychology, battle, murder, and sudden death. But here again one comes away with the impression that it is all very far-fetched; that such things could not possibly happen in real life.

And if you can resist that opening, the you are heard to please indeed!

The Book of the Spider by Paul Hillyard, a book review

The Book of the Spider: From Arachnophobia to the Love of Spiders is a good, informative book tackling a huge range of spider subjects: Spiders in myths and legends, spiders as they live all over the world, the history of arachnology (or "spiderology," as Hillyard calls it), spider silk, attitudes toward spiders around the world, and etc. It's an impressive and informative array, very well organized, and enthusiastically presented. The book is well worth reading if one is interested in spiders.

Stylistically it is, as I said well-organized, no mean feat for a book covering such a broad array of topics, and everything presented with enthusiasm and warmth. It doesn't quite tip over into spectacular, though: It is a book you'll enjoy if you like spiders, but not a book that will convince you to like them if you aren't already interested.

The two main drawbacks are its age and the complete lack of color. The age is no one's fault: Time passes, and a book that had the latest information in 1994 won't in 2010, and in biology, that matters. The breadth of the book also mitigates this: Legends remain the same, and arachnology may have advanced, but the basic history is still what it was.

The lack of color is  possibly also a function of age. I did, however, find  it a bit odd in a book on spiders. Illustrations of any kind are scant, and there is one spider drawing which reappears, seemingly at random, and irritated me by being without any label at all (I've since decided, based on another book, that it's a drawing of a wolf spider. It's nice not to have that nagging at me).

Verdict: worth reading, full of lots of intriguing tidbits (Did you know there are, or were, groups of people who used spiders' webs for fishnets? I didn't), but not one to hunt for if it isn't on hand.

The Eensy-Weensy Spider adapted by Mary Ann Hoberman, Illustrated by Nadine Bernard Westcott, a book review

The Eensy-Weensy Spider is tremendously fun.

Hoberman's rhyme takes the eensy-weensy spider off exploring after she's finished climbing the water spout. She visits a playground, swims with a frog, marches in a band, stays out too late, and has a collection of preschool-sized adventures with the other bugs in the area.

Initially, I thought the rhymes had a very odd rhythm, but once I started singing them I realized that the fit the original song perfectly. It just isn't meant to be spoken.

Westcott's illustrations are cute, bright, and a tremendous amount of fun. Her little pink spider is expressive as she marches off determinedly to explore the world. She is surrounded by a bright, cheerful, challenging world. I found the whole delightful, though I have a special fondness for the preying mantis and the helpful beetle.

Spiders by Nic Bishop, a book review

Spiders is an absolutely gorgeous book. Nic Bishop has a note in the back explaining that he kept many of the spiders in the house in order to catch them at key moments, and it shows. The pictures are stunning, the sort that make me ask "How come kids get the fun books?" They are also all carefully identified; each picture is accompanied by the name of the  spider as well information about what the spider is doing at that moment and why.

The text, too, reflects the care Bishop took. It is carefully presented for younger readers (The Sholastic site suggests first through third graders), without being overly simplified or stilted. There is an underlying affection and respect for the creatures.

Page layout and font choice are also spot-on. The pages are colorful without being distracting. The whole book gives the sense that spiders really are wonderful and that learning is a joyous thing. Scholastic also deserves credit for crafting a very sturdy book. The copy I read was from the library, and it has obviously been read but is in very good shape, even the fold out of the jumping spider (a gorgeous series of pictures) is still intact.

Highly recommended.

Spiders by Dan Greenberg, a book review

Overall, Spiders was a fairly average children's book with one minor and one significant drawback.

Greenberg gave a overview of what spiders are and how they behave, and provided a quick world-tour of spider types. There are some really good pictures--I particularly liked the shot of the ogre-faced spider waiting to trap an unwary insect--and one or two memorable lines. One thing I really appreciated was that most of the spiders pictured are identified by family name, making them less generic.

The minor drawback: Vocabulary words are italicized, giving the book something of a textbook air, moving it from "This is interesting stuff you might like to know" to "You are being educated." How much this bothers the target audience I don't know. I found it mildly irritating.

It was the end, though, that made me furious. After four chapters (38 pages) if interesting tidbits on spiders, the last chapter drops the "spiders are endangered" bomb. The last few sentences read "Scientists have found evidence of spiders having concentrated levels of lead and other heavy metals in their bodies. More importantly, spider habitats are being destroyed or damaged at an alarming rate in today's world. Spiders themselves are being killed by over-use of chemical pesticides that are sprayed on crops. Perhaps it is time to take these threats seriously."

That's it. The end. What a message for the kids. The final thought is "Spiders are doomed." Sweet dreams, everyone.

There isn't even a token suggestion that we might delay the apocalypse for a while by recycling or not over-watering the garden. The closest thing to it is a suggestion, in a separate text box, that it might be a good idea to "not be overly neat in the yard." Right. Leaving a little clutter is going to save us from the oncoming death of the spider.

Yes, I know that extinction is a concern, and we need to care for the environment, but is this really the absolute, final thought Greenberg meant to leave in his readers' minds? Really?

The Book That Started It All

Note: This is almost identical to the review I posted on Bookwyrme's Lair. I may have added a bit more gushing, but that's it.

Spiders: Learning to Love Them is one of those books that makes me realize I have been walking around half blind all of my life.

Sure, I know there are spiders around--this time of year, it's hard not to, what with running into their webs every evening. The thing is, I've never really <i>looked</i> at them, or their webs. There's an amazing world out there I've never seen--dozens of kinds of webs, hundreds of kinds of spiders. How do I start?

Lynne Kelly combines three qualities I love in a writer: Humor, love, and research. <cite>Spiders</cite> is, in part, an account of her own progress from arachnophobe to arachnophile, and her (new-found) love for spiders and for the world they reveal is clear in the book. The detail and intricacy of their world and the level of research Kelly has done is also clear without the book ever becoming pedantic.

The book is lavishly illustrated as well, which is always a plus. There is a nice selection of color plates, including a gorgeous section on the progress of a spider weaving an orb-web and numerous black and white photographs or drawings all through the book.

Of course, for some, this could be a drawback: My local arachnophobe refuses to pick the book up on the grounds that "spiders are evil" and there is a close-up of a spider on the front--and, to be honest, I'm not including a cover on this one because I have had aracnophobic friends scold me for springing spider pictures on them without warning in the past.

Me? I'm not terribly reassured by the news that widow spiders only attack when they feel trapped because how do I know when I'm trapping one? Believe me, I wouldn't provoke one on purpose!&nbsp; All the same, I can't wait to grab my flashlight and go out spider hunting some night.&nbsp; The array of webs I've already seen, just starting to look, is already fascinating.

The book has me really looking, and learning, and I appreciate that more than I can say.